• Wrestling News & Wrestling Rumors – WWE & TNA

Real Name:
Phillip Jack Brooks

Birth Date:
October 26th, 1978

Town of Birth:
Chicago, Illinois

Town of Childhood:
Chicago, Illinois – but attended Lockport, Illinois Schools and lived there after high school.

Residing Town:
Chicago, Illinois

Billed Height and Weight:
6′1″ – 222 lbs (occasionally 220lbs)

Trained and Mentored By:
Ace Steel, Kevin Quinn, Danny Dominion, OVW (various)

WWE Title History:
1 time WWE World Heavyweight Champion, 1 time ECW Heavyweight Champion, 2008 Money in the Bank winner, 1 time OVW Heavyweight Champion, 1 time OVW Television Champion, 1 time OVW Southern Tag Team Champion (with Seth Skyfire).

ROH and Independent Title History:
1 time ROH Heavyweight Champion, 2 time ROH Tag Team Champion (with Colt Cabana), 5 time IWA:MS Heavyweight Champion, 2 time IWA:MS Light Heavyweight Champion, 1 time NWA Cyberspace Tag Team Champion (with Julio Dinero), 1 time NWA Revolution Heavyweight Champion, 1 time MAW Heavyweight Champion, 1 time IWC Heavyweight Champion, 1 time SDW Northern States Television Champion.

High Res Picture:
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Theme Music:
“This Fire Burns” by Killswitch Engage

Introduction to CM Punk

- CM Punk was born in Lockport, Illinois, but spent most of his life in Chicago and like many wrestlers he was a big pro wrestling fan from an early age, being particularly inspired by Roddy Piper hitting Jimmy Snuka on the head with a coconut on Piper’s Pit. He follows what is known as a “straight edge” or tee-total lifestyle, which means he doesn’t drink alcohol, smoke or take any form of drugs, although he’s a self proclaimed Pepsi addict, which is reflected in one of his tattoos among others, such as “Straight Edge” on his stomach and “Drug Free” on his knuckles. He also has a homage to the late Chris Candido on his left hand reading “No Gimmicks Needed.” One of the main reasons he opted to live a clean life was because his father was an alcoholic and at high school he got in to the Hardcore Punk following, of which the band Minor Threat Preached the Straight Edge lifestyle. Thus ultimately led to his name being “Punk,” and because he looked like just some tattooed Punk you might see walking down the street.

- He was raised by both parents despite strong tension from his father’s drink problems and has two sisters and a brother. Similar to the Hardys and OMEGA, CM Punk was such a big fan of wrestling that he took his passion to the backyard and began his own wrestling promotion Lunatic Wrestling Federation (LWF) with his brother Mike (ring name Mike Broox) among others. This eventually grew in to a garbage Indy promotion that ran out of a warehouse in Mokena, IL and the group did local spot shows, showcasing local talent and friends, although Punk has later called it “god awful.” This is where he officially got his name CM Punk, wrestling in the tag team the Chick Magnets with CM Venom and it’s amazingly stuck ever since, even in the WWE. Punk often makes light of his name saying it means Charles Montgomery, Charles Manson or Crooked Moonsault.

CM Punk was by far the most determined and professional out of the LWF roster and was devastated when he found out his brother Mike Broox was pocketing the money they’d worked hard to put in and and make with the small company. It is believed Mike embezzled thousands of dollars from the promotion and Punk, leading to a big fallout between the two. Mike hasn’t wrestled since.

- After high school he rented an apartment with aspiring women’s wrestler Alison Danger, of whom he became romantically involved with and decided that he needed to get professionally trained to make it in the wrestling business, so he sort out a nearby training school called “Steel Domain,” ran be Indy standout Ace Steel and his tag partner Danny Dominion. He was also trained by Kevin Quinn at the school. Here he learned the basics and how to wrestle properly and safely, before hitting the independent scene and ultimately making a name for himself in ROH.

Tell me More about CM Punk

- CM Punk had his proper professional debut in 1999, for Steel Domain Wrestling, an offshoot of the training school and this is where he developed a strong friendship with Scott “Colt Cabana” Coltman, aka Scotty Goldman. He would wrestle small Indys, often facing different combinations of his mentors and training partners, which led to his first real gimmick as part of the Goonies or the Good Squad depending on who you ask, which was a faction of rookies that wore stained jeans, scraggy vests and ladies tights over their heads. (It seems everyone had at least one bad gimmick). He soon surpassed that stable and started an early heel rendition of his straight edge gimmick, where he acted better than everyone else because he was clean (he’d use this numerous times through his career with great success, to the point of fans throwing beer at him). He soon became a standout in St. Paul Championship Wrestling and Mid-American Wrestling, having an early feud with future NWA Champion Adam Pearce. He eventually lost a loser leaves town match to Pearce in MAW, but returned a year later to win the heavyweight title. Simultaneously he emerged in IWA: Mid-South where he really began to shine as a solid Indy worker and it was around this time he was also involved in a brief stable/click with other Steel Domain graduates Colt Cabana, Chuckie Smoothe, rival Adam Pearce and manager Dave Prazak, called the Gold Bond Mafia, which was named after the Gold Bond pain relief Powder commonly used by the wrestlers.

- IWA:MS quickly became CM Punk’s home and is often looked back on as where his character we see today started to develop. He worked his way up the ranks through 2000 and 2001, winning the Light Heavyweight title on June 9, 2001 from Mark Wolf. Just a few months later he hit the main event ranks of the promotion and beat Chris Hero for the Heavyweight title. The pair had what was considered a standout feud on the Indy level, wrestling an hour long TLC match and an incredible 93 minute 2 out of 3 falls match respectively. He also had several matches with friend Colt Cabana. Punk began to develop some great promo talent during this run.

- A match CM Punk will never forget came when he crossed paths with the late legendary Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio in March 2002, who were both tearing up the Indy scene on road to the WWE – Eddie looking to re-sign after drug problems and Rey still trying to get signed after WCW went under. The trio had a great Triple Threat match which saw Eddie win CM Punk’s IWA:MS Heavyweight title. Punk would win it back a day later as Eddie couldn’t be a main stay in the promotion. He would become a 4 time champion during this run and would win it for a fifth time later in his career.

- CM Punk really began to reach the top echelons of independent wrestling when he moved up to the two second tier promotions in the US, ROH and TNA. TNA of which had at the time a nationally carried weekly Wednesday Night PPV and ROH which had the widest distribution of wrestling DVDs outside of the WWE. At the time TNA had yet to reach its current status and therefore there was no problem with Punk working for both promotions. Around this time in May, 2003 he also wrestled dark matches for WWE Raw, beating Khalsha Singh and Smackdown in a tag match losing to the legendary Road Warriors, although nothing came of them and he began working consistently for ROH and TNA as he had planned.

He made his ROH start by feuding with Raven and winning a contract match over Colt Cabana. He faced Raven in various hardcore style matches including a bloody dog collar match. Ironically he was partnered with Raven not long in to his TNA run as part of the Gathering. This stable consisted of Raven, CM Punk, Julio Dinero and Alexis Laree (aka Mickie James) and the group feuded with Shane Douglas and the Disciples of the New Church, managed by James Mitchell. Again he took part in several hardcore style matches, again including a dog collar match and after one PPV he was left hanging by chains with other Gathering members from the Asylum rafters.

After Punk and Dinero were booked to turn on Raven and become a top heel tag team TNA lost faith in the pair and didn’t think they had heat as heels. It didn’t help when he got in to a legitimate fight with Teddy Hart outside of a restaurant, that had to be broken up by Sabu. CM Punk officially left TNA in March 2004 and wrestled in a high position for ROH where his success skyrocketed. It was at this time TNA were preventing its wrestlers from working for ROH and with no push in sight Punk made the jump.

- Over the rest of 2004 and in to 2005 CM Punk wrestled some of the best matches of his career, working for ROH, PWG, IWA:MS and IWC among others. He partnered with his old pal Colt Cabana (as the Second City Saints) to pick up the ROH Tag Team titles from the Briscoe Brothers on two occasions, the second losing and winning them back in one Round Robin tournament.

The defining moment of his ROH run came when he fought in a highly acclaimed best of 3 series with future TNA Heavyweight champion Samoa Joe. The two wrestled twice to 60 minute time limit draws until Joe beat Punk in the third match with no time limit as a stipulation. The second bout was universally hailed as a 5 star match among those that like to rate wrestling on the star scale.

After a solid tag team run in ROH, on October 23, 2004, CM Punk went home and defeated A.J. Styles to win the IWA-Mid South Heavyweight Championship for the fifth and final time, losing it to Danny Daniels on February 4th, 2005.

- 2005 was the year CM Punk began to get mainstream exposure and attention, gaining several more WWE dark matches, tryouts and TV matches against the likes of Maven and Simon Dean, The Amazing Red (who never got signed), Val Venis, Matt Capottelli, Scotty Too Hotty and Cade and Murdoch. He impressed WWE management and was ultimately given a development contract with OVW.

He continued to work ROH matches even after it was announced in June that he had been offered a deal with WWE. In fact on June 18th, 2005 he defeated Austin Aries for the ROH World title and turned heel, teasing how he was going to take the ROH title to WWE and actually signed his WWE development contract on top of the belt, which pissed off the fans. Mick Foley was making appearances with ROH at the time and cut several promos trying to convince CM Punk to do what was right and defend the title before he left the company and in the end he lost the belt to James Gibson (aka Jamie Noble) in a four corner elimination match consisting of himself, Gibson, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels. He turned face again over the course of the match and was given the Japanese style of appreciation with streamers, whilst crying in the ring. His final night with ROH saw him fight an emotional match with long time friend Colt Cabana. The big time was calling…

- CM Punk immediately impressed and rubbed people the wrong way, as is often the case. Some get him and others don’t. Despite having a few haters and busting his ear drum just two weeks in Punk managed to capture the the OVW Television Championship on November 9th, from Ken Doan. He developed his style and kept the title until January 4th, 2006 when he lost to Aaron Stevens, ultimately leading him to the main event where he eventually defeated Brent Albright for the OVW Heavyweight title, during a feud that lasted his whole stay in development.

In the Summer he’d debut on the new ECW whilst still defending the OVW title and later winning the OVW tag titles with Seth Skyfire. He’d lose them both further down the line and focus on his main roster career.

- CM Punk made several house show appearances for the ECW brand and dark matches before the TV broadcasts, before appearing in several vignettes and taped segments where he proclaimed his “tattoos are declarations, not decorations” and reprized a lighter version of his Straight Edge gimmick that he perfected in ROH and the Indys. On his August 1st, debut TV match he beat Justin Credible and went on to have a solid 5 month undefeated streak before losing to Hardcore Holly on January 9th, 2007. Ironically he became a breakout star after this loss and pretty much stayed at the top of the ECW roster until he cashed in the Money in the Bank in 2008.

He was entered in to the 2007 Royal Rumble and qualified for the Wrestlemania 23 Money in the Bank Ladder match by beating John Morrison (he lost this first year). During this time he was part of the New Breed, ECW Original storyline, turning on the New Breed and aligning himself briefly with the ECW Originals. He then later feuded with John Morrison for the ECW title, only beating him when Morrison was suspended in the Signature Pharmacy Scandal. He won the match and became ECW Champion on September 4, 2007 on an episode of ECW on Sci-Fi, going on to make several defenses against the top ECW talent.

On the January 22nd, 2008 edition of ECW CM Punk lost the title to Chavo Guerrero as part of a feud that saw Chavo end up in the water of the Gulf of Mexico. Despite this Punk went on to better things, winning the Money in the Bank Ladder match at Wrestlemania 24. Next came a quiet period where many questioned if Punk would even cash in the briefcase for a major title, seemingly positioned in the WWE “doghouse,” an continually jobbed out to other wrestlers.

- Things soon perked up as after losing the 2008 King of the Ring Final on Raw to William Regal, CM Punk became a regular wrestler on the A brand, following the Draft lottery. Just one week later, in what was an extremely shocking moment and ratings boost, he gave Edge a taste of his own medicine and won the World Heavyweight Title, after cashing in the briefcase on a beaten down Edge at the hands of Batista. Continuing the surprises, Punk defended the belt successfully at the end of the show against JBL.

WWE played in to the critics who called CM Punk a transitional champion and never imagined he’d hold the title for as long as he did by telling the story that he kept winning by flukes and needed to prove he was worthy each time he went out there.

- At the Unforgiven PPV, CM Punk who was set to defend the title in a Championship Scramble match was beaten up by the faction of Ted DiBiase, Cody Rhodes and Manu and got punted in the head by Orton, taking him out of the contest. Chris Jericho replaced him and went on to win the title, successfully defending it against Punk in a Cage match on Raw. Punk was then moved in to the tag team ranks with Kofi Kingston as they battled the faction that took him out.

CM Punk in the News

- Early on in his career CM Punk was romantically linked to Alison Danger (the sister of Steve Corino) and the couple lived together after Punk left high school and began pursuing a proper career in wrestling. During his ROH days he was also in a relationship with Tracy Brooks who’d hit the national scene with TNA and later Daffney of WCW fame. It’s often joked that CM Punk won’t take drugs but he might take your girlfriend, in reference to his charm with women:

- In October 2002 CM Punk was fired from his job as a lab technician for Underwriters Laboratories for poor work ethic and bad behavior.

- Before CM Punk left TNA in 2004 he had a legitimate fight (later called a scuffle) with Teddy Hart outside a restaurant that had to be broken up by ECW original Sabu. The confrontation stems from Hart being reckless in the ring in an earlier ROH match, performing several unplanned and dangerous high spots.

- One of people’s main criticisms of CM Punk whilst on the Indy scene was that he worked too much of a WWE style and didn’t always mesh well with the often spot heavy and cutting edge wrestlers. Ironically one of his main problems whilst working in OVW was that he was reluctant to fully learn the WWE style. It’s fair to say he has his own style.

- Whilst in ROH Mick Foley and Rick Steamboat were big proponents of CM punk and Samoa Joe. Mick even tried to get Punk in to WWE before his later tryout matches because he saw great potential in him. Mick can probably be held responsible for some of WWE’s interest in Punk.

- CM Punk became one of the first trainers for the ROH training school although he admittedly says he still had a lot to learn himself at the time.

- CM Punk had to stop doing one of his moves, the Pepsi Plunge when he got to WWE because it was a top rope pedigree, which is obviously a version of Triple H’s finisher.

- Whilst in OVW CM Punk began dating Maria, in what was a very open relationship. The two could often be found playing tonsil hockey and pictures even made their way on to the internet:

The couple broke up some time during their main roster pushes, although they both remain friends.

- On October 31st, 2006, CM Punk took part in a 6 hour live broadcast special of Ghost Hunters on the Sci-Fi channel. from the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. He seemed genuinely scared about hearing children laughing and running around that were not there. He also brought up the famous Colt Cabana (Scotty Goldman) lost toe joke.

- In October 2007 (during his ECW title reign) CM Punk was in a backstage altercation with Tony Atlas who had been brought in to talk to the younger stars and give them some tips. He told Punk before his match that “stars don’t tape their wrists like that” and that management doesn’t like it, but Punk ignored him, knowing that he’d been doing it since his debut without any issues. After the show Atlas went on a rant about various things and kept giving the evil eye to Punk for disobeying him earlier, seeing him as a ringleader for bad behavior. When CM Punk confronted him the two got in to a massive slanging match with Atlas saying “With an attitude like that you’ll never be called up to TV.” This obviously ruined Atlas’s credibility and everyone generally saw him as an old bumbling idiot, with CM Punk being backed by most people in the locker room. Morale was really low at this point in OVW and punk was seen as a hero.

- CM Punk is very honest and confident, often rubbing people the wrong way who don’t “get” him. He’s been in the proverbial doghouse several times during his WWE run but due to his straight edge lifestyle has worked his way to the top. He was never booked to win the ECW title until John Morrison got suspended and he was never booked to win the Money in the Bank at Wrestlemania 24 until Jeff Hardy got suspended.

- CM Punk was at one point planned to turn heel and cash in the money in the bank later in the year against a face opponent, but Vince decided on making him champion earlier so they kept his good guy persona. Vince sees the asset of his straight edge lifestyle in today’s anti-steroid climate.

- On July 7th, 2008, CM Punk accidentally broke Snitsky’s nose in a botched Go To Sleep. Ironically on July 28th, William Regal busted CM Punk’s nose with a boot between the ring post. Punk won the match in the end.

- In an interview with the Chicago Times, CM Punk said “I have tattoos and I look like everyone else when I’m not in my underwear [trunks]. Actually, I’m not allowed to wear my street clothes on TV because Vince McMahon says I don’t look like CM Punk when I’m not in my gear. And hipsters either don’t watch TV or they’re too cool to admit they watch wrestling. So no one even talks to me [on the street].”

Notable CM Punk Matches

(these are highlights and not a complete match history).

LWF: